Yuki frowned as she slowly peeled the cloth away from the wound. As she did, she kept crushing healing pills and placing the paste directly on the wound. It took her almost thirty minutes to fully peel all the cloth away from Nana’s wounds. She then helped Nana disrobe before taking her own robes off to lay near the fire to dry.

Yuki then took a cushion she had stolen a while ago and placed it on the ground before sitting down herself. She then patted the spot between her legs that would allow Nana to sit down as well on the cushion. “Nana, sit here.” 

Nana blushed as she hesitantly sat down. She shivered slightly. She felt quite cold. She had lost a lot of blood and even fell into chilled waters, not to mention the blood she had used to heal Yuki. Her entire body felt drained and tired. 

Yuki gently wrapped her arms around Nana. She had once learned in her past life that the best way to stay warm was to go fully nude and hug another person. Since they both needed their clothes to dry, she figured this was the best option until they warmed up enough for them to be fine. Nana’s face turned bright red as Yuki hugged her, but she did not pull away. She felt the warmth from Yuki’s embrace, which took the chill out of her body. 

“Nana, I owe you my life,” Yuki said as she rested her forehead on Nana’s shoulder. “You risked your own life to come and save me.”

“You are the only one who knows the true me,” Nana spoke softly as she placed her hand on the hand that was wrapped around her waist. “Since I lost my entire clan, I have always stayed away from others, only speaking when needed and only getting close enough to do what I needed to survive. When I met you for the first time, I unconsciously found myself trying to get close to you. The day you took my hand and helped me out of my predicament, I knew you had a good heart. While you do not show it on your face or express yourself well, I decided to risk it when I revealed myself to you. 

“Yuki being with you reminds me of my family, my family that was captured and taken away. To this day, I still do not know who it was that took my family, but I still search for clues even though it has been so many years. I am sorry if I am imposing my longing for familiar ties on you, but I can not help it…. I just….” Nana stopped speaking when a finger pressed against her swollen lips.  

“I felt the same…..” Yuki said softly. “We are the same. I, too, am looking for clues about my clansmen. I only know it was a human sect that destroyed my home and took away and killed the ones I loved. The people who raised me for so many years and were kind to me. Nana, I am the same as you.” 

Nana’s eyes widened as her tears continued to fall. She had never been able to tell anyone about herself, but now, here, in this place, was someone who could share her pain. Who understood her more than anyone else in this world. “We are the same….” Nana muttered softly under her quiet sobs.

Yuki gently ran her hands through Nana’s hair and moved it so it would not get into her wound before pressing her forehead on Nana’s shoulder once more. She was in an internal debate. She did not know if she should risk showing her true form to Nana yet. While she was starting to get a sense that she could really trust Nana, she still felt hesitant. The two girls sat in silence. One sitting in front of the other, both lost in their own thoughts. 

Eventually, Nana turned and sat sideways in Yuki’s lap and leaned against her chest. Nana seemed to find more warmth this way. Yuki just held her in her arms while staring at the fire, the orange light illuminating the cave they were in. At this time, she could only hope that Nana’s wounds would heal quickly. 

Soft breathing came from below Yuki. She looked down to see that Nana had passed out.  Yuki’s lips slightly curved up as she brushed some of Nana’s hair out of her face. The tired look in Nana’s eyes showed that she had been through a rough experience. Yuki wondered just how long Nana had been running for while carrying her body. She only remembered seeing a figure standing in front of her before passing out. She also wondered just how Nana healed her. 

When she thought back to when she woke up, and Nana’s tongue was in her mouth with blood dripping down her throat, she came to an understanding, Nana’s blood was special. But what she did not understand was why Nana’s wounds were not healing quickly if her blood was able to heal her shattered bones. “Can her own blood not heal her quickly?” Yuki frowned slightly. If this was the case, then Nana might not be able to leave this cave for a while. 

But that was fine too. Her space was filled with meat and water so they would not starve. She could even keep applying pills to her wound to help speed up the healing process. Right now, she just needed to keep Nana from getting an infection. Although, she was sure a scar would form on Nana’s back. This made her frown once more. Yuki looked down at the peaceful sleeping face that seemed to fully trust her and made up her mind. ‘I guess I will just need to stay by her side from here on out. We can help each other from now on…. If her clan was like mine, then the culprits just might be the same. We can maybe work together and take out the ones who took our lives away from us.’